As is generally well known, airlines mandate sizes of the luggage articles that can be carried aboard the aircraft and further mandate weight limit of luggage articles that can be loaded onto the aircraft without inquiring additional expense when such weight limit is exceeded. Unfortunately, determining weight of the luggage article during packing, particularly, a large luggage article is a challenging task. Regular weight scales have a smaller than needed surface in order to accurately weigh luggage articles of all types. Thus, many travelers are tasked with undesirable effort of repacking at the airport due to exceeding the mandated weight limits often causing bottlenecks at the check-in counters and inconvenience to others.
Prior to the present invention, efforts have been made to alleviate difficulties associated with determining weight of the packed luggage article. U.S. Pat. No. 3,090,454 issued to Farrar et al. and U.S. Pub. No. 2005/0051586 to Siwak at al. disclose weight determining mechanisms which are incorporated into a handle of such luggage article. While being sufficient to determine the weight, such prior art provides for higher than desirable cost of each luggage article.
UK Patent Application GB 2,385,142 to Ghosh discloses a U-shaped elongated device that can be slipped under the handle and pulled up to determine the weight which may be displayed or audibly annunciated.
German Patent Application DE 2060208 shows another type of the weight determining device that employs a pair of hooks which are stationary attached to a handle and which are used to releaseably engage a carrying member of the luggage article. However, there is a continuing need for an improved device for determining weight of the luggage article.